Men's Soccer to Battle for First Place

Sarnia, ON (Oct 5, 2021) The St. Clair men's soccer team travelled to Sarnia on Tuesday afternoon to take on the Lambton Lions in a match that had been rained out on September 22nd . The Saints came away with a hard fought 2-0 win in the second last game of the season in what was a must win game for the Lions.

The first half was a back-and-forth affair with neither group giving up much on the defensive end of things. As the first half wore on, the Saints started to find their rhythm. The Lambton keeper made several key stops, including a one-handed diving save that sent a threatening St. Clair strike over the net and out of harm's way.

In the 40th minute, the Lambton goalie was given a yellow card after taking down the St. Clair forward in the box. The Saints were awarded a penalty kick and looked to get on the board before the break, but Noel Junior (Brazil) sent his penalty kick wide right.

St. Clair controlled the play for most of the first half but could not get one past the Lambton keeper holding a 14-5 edge in shot attempts. The Lions goalie made 8 saves compared to 4 by St. Clair's Jonathan Rondinelli (Windsor; Riverside) in the half.

The second half saw some more even play with not many scoring chances as both defenses held tight.

Frustration started to set in on both sides. A total of seven yellow cards (5 for Lambton and 2 for St. Clair) were given out on the day, five of which came in the second half alone. The game had the feeling that something was going to give, and the Saints finally broke through.

In the 70th minute, the Saints capitalized on a throw-in in the attacking half, and Junior got behind the Lambton defender and put one off the right post and past the keeper to break the deadlock. Then, in the 87th minute, Evan Mendonca (Wallacetown; West Elgin) was gifted a tap-in on the goal line after a nice through ball landed right at his feet. Rondinelli got the win and clean sheet stopping all 7 shots on goal he faced.

With the win St. Clair's record improved to 4 wins and a loss. The Saints only loss came against Fanshawe on September 17th by a score of 1-0.  St. Clair and the Falcons will face off on Friday afternoon in London to wrap up their OCAA regular season in a battle for first place and a first round playoff bye. The Falcons have a record of 4 wins and a tie so the Saints must defeat them to move ahead of Fanshawe. St. Clair is currently ranked 4th in the OCAA while the Falcons are ranked 3rd.